More New Chicks

Mike convinced me to get more little chicks again since we can't keep up with egg customers. We got black australorps, red stars, buff orpingtons, and brown leghorns. Here are some pics of the little ones and some new pics of the olders ones. I also added a new pic of Hunny and Bunny with their babies, Buttercup, Taffy and Gouda. We are going to be getting a new boyfriend for Hunny & Bunny. He is a purebred Toggenburg and his name is Sunny. He should be here by the end of the month.

First Blue & Green Egg!

Today we found our first Americana eggs. One large blue one and a smaller green one. We're sure the large blue one has a double yolk, since we've found that to be the case with large eggs from young pullets. I've been waiting weeks for them to start laying, egg production in general is down because of the August heat. We finally had it cool off a little yesterday. The chickens have been getting lots of garden scraps, especially tomatoes. It hasn't been a good tomato year, they get bad quickly this year.

I've been busy canning whatever I have plenty of. Unfortunately my pickling cucumbers didn't grow well. I only have one plant that produces one pickle every couple days. I tried to find some at a farmer's market and they want $3/lb. For that much I can just buy pickles in the store. The ones I have been getting from my garden I've just been putting in the large jar of store pickles. Technically not how your supposed to do it but I never have enough to do a batch of my own and so far this new method seems to be working. So far I have canned peaches, green beans, strawberry jam, apple jelly and mint jelly. Next on the list is salsa, apples and pears.

We're Still Here

Wow its been a long time since we've written anything! Things are going great, we've sold most of our goat kids and ewe lambs. Our little blind goat has been growing well on HunnyBunny milk. Unfortunately its almost time to say goodbye to him and I'm pretending I don't know what's going to happen to him. Milk production has been down with the hot weather. Bunny has a knee that is a little swollen and not getting better on her own so I think we will start giving her antibiotics and let her milk dry up. Another month and it will be time to breed them again and no one wants to drink the milk when they are around Bud. I'll keep milking Hunny for a while yet though. I tried making some cheese, it turned out good but I have a hard time aging it. I have cheese wax but dipping it is difficult without the proper equipment and painting it on just didn't give it a good enough coat and it got moldy. The chickens loved it though!

We found a tiny little egg 3 days ago and suspect it was one of the young buff pullets. They are 4 months old now so we're expecting eggs soon. We haven't seen another little one yet but we're pretty sure it was her. We're still waiting for that first blue/green egg!

Its green bean season. I've been canning this year and I was a little scared of my pressure canner at first but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It has a pressure gage so I'm not too worried about blowing anything up. I've canned strawberry jam, mint jelly and green beans. So far so good! I'm anxious to open a can of green beans and see how they taste but after all the hard work I did to seal up those jars I just hate to open one so soon!

Bitter Milk Mystery Solved

Well sort of. I know the culprit is Bunny. I've always combined their milk but out of curiousity to see if there was a taste difference I kept them separate. Hunny's milk is sweet and delicious without even the slightest hint of "goatyness". Bunny's milk isn't necessarily "goaty" but it has a bitter taste to it. Now I'm not sure if its because she likes to eat a certain kind of weed Hunny doesn't eat or if its her bitter attitude at milking time. Late last summer her milk tasted fine. Right now it doesn't matter because I give all of Bunny's milk to Porkers since he doesn't mind the flavor and we keep all of Hunny's milk. She is making over 1/2 gallon on a once a day milking so we are getting plenty from her. I just hate that I have to go to all the work of milking Bunny and I give it all away to Porkers. He's doing great on HunnyBunny milk though!

Hunny & Bunny are healthy

Turns out Hunny & Bunny are healthy. The milk was tested and its perfectly normal. As soon as the antibiotics are out we can start drinking it again. We still don't know exactly why their udders have started turning color but I did read that Toggenburgs do have pigment changes. I looked at the pictures that came with their registration papers, pictures of their udders when full and they do look a bit grayish/purple in the pictures too. So I guess we worried for nothing and everything is fine. I feel good being reassured the milk is fine. The little blind goat has been named Porkers because he eats like a big. He is back in the barn and drinking from a self feeding bucket. He is able to find it on his own now and he's very strong and healthy. Such a cute little guy too! He gets so excited when he hears our voices.

Blind Goat Kid

We had a little boer goat born this week and we think he's blind, both eyes are cloudy. He's very strong and healthy so far. He had a difficult time eating with his mom so he's a bottle baby now. Right now we have him in the house in a box but soon he will move back out to the barn and drink from a bucket. We are still not sure how Hunny & Bunny are doing. We have been treating them for mastitis because their udders have been turning a grayish black color but they don't have any other symptoms and the milk appears fine. There has been no improvement in color but they don't act like they are in pain or sick. We took a sample of it to the vet today and they are going to culture it over the weekend and let us know Monday what's going on. It could also be bruising or just the color Toggenburgs change. That would be weird though if they just suddenly turned this color.

Our spring chicks (Americana & Buff Orpington) moved to the coop this week. They are about 5 weeks old. We made them their own safe pen with a heat lamp. This way they can still get to know the older hens so when we are ready to let them out of their safe pen they will hopefully all get along. I've been warned about the older hens picking on them and possibly killing them but so far they don't seem to care about them at all. The hens have only been in the coop about 4 days before the chicks so maybe they hadn't fully claimed it as their territory yet. We'll see in a couple weeks if they can all get along.

We had a basket fundraiser for the preschool this week, where we all put together some kind of basket for a silent auction. I put together a basket of HunnyBunny goat milk soap and lotion. It had 2 bars old fashioned honey oatmeal lye soap, 1 bar rose, 1 lavender, 1 honey & 1 vanilla. It also had two small bottles of lotion, one peppermint and one green apple. I also included some information about goat milk soaps and the ingredients in each.

Moving Day

On Saturday the chickens moved outside. They were cautious but seemed happy immediately. Since I still don't have an actual coop, we modified an old shed. It will work for now. We have been getting more eggs and the chickens seem happier to be on the sun's schedule, not just when we turn the light on and off like when they were in the barn. I lined their pasture with chicken wire, I hope it keeps them in and they don't decide to fly over the fence. I'm counting on the fact that they are all heavy breeds and that they will be happy enough in their pasture. In other news, Hunny and Bunny have a serious case of mastitis. I'm hoping we caught it in time to save them from permanent damage. Luckily we hadn't been drinking the milk for the past few days since the flavor seemed off. Here are some pictures of the chickens enjoying the outdoors and wonderful spring weather we've been having.